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Yeah. I kinda did.
I didn't play Starfinder very much or for very long - a year or so was all.
But after trying out PF2 I lost a lot of the interest in the mechanics. I still love the setting.
I'm still willing to play Starfinder. I have even played a bit of PF1 since PF2 came out. I just haven't done so.
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Yes. Starfinder feels too much like going back to PF1. I don't have it in me to drag my group along through it anymore. So much handholding I needed to do compared to PF2.
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I generally stopped SF when PF2 came out.
I've always preferred fantasy to science fiction/science fantasy. However I arrived to PF rather late in its life cycle, and SF when it launched felt more approachable to me, especially in organized play. I could know the whole story and not always feel like I was missing references/callbacks. PF2 let me hit those stories from ground zero which solved that major problem for me.
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Not exactly, but my characters for PF2 are a lot easier to get into games than my characters for Starfinder. Science fantasy has a really broad range of subgenres and locales, and a lot of my characters are too narrow in scope to fit in most games.
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As GM gming SF isn't so good as is in PF2. That said as player I would play SF without problem but I'm not too interested right now as I'm interested to play PF2.
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As GM, I find SF much more relaxing than PF2, though overall I've run more total sessions of PF2 than SF.
Currently I run more SF than PF2, but that's mostly because there are even fewer SF GMs than PF2 GMs and I want to support SF.
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I still play and enjoy Starfinder.
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I'm still playing Starfinder and enjoying it, but I'm finding it's harder and harder to find Starfinder games on the Recruitment board here. The Starfinder I am playing is mostly thanks to a very, VERY talented and dedicated GM (Thanks, Cellion! You're the best!). But to be fair, I'm ALSO not finding many PF2 games on there either nowadays. Most of the recruitment there seems to be for PF1 still and the ones that aren't tend to be for other games entirely that I have no experience with.
I am frankly concerned because it feels like a lot of the enthusiasm for Starfinder has kind of died down after Drift Crisis came and went. I'm hoping the upcoming Starfinder Enhanced book gets things going again, but it really does feel sometimes like 2e is hogging the spotlight (and from what I've heard, this was by design as Starfinder was meant to be a stopgap to hold interest until they were ready to announce 2e, and there were some people at Paizo who very much DIDN'T want to do Starfinder).
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I did stop after I realised that playing a Mystic enjoyably requires me to max skills or else I won't keep up with system math and investing all my feats in long arms so that I get something to do on turns when I don't use any of my (correctly) limited spell slots because my cantrips (incorrectly) don't scale.
Then I realised that it's Ivoy Tower game design all over again, and if I wanted that, I'd rather play PF1, where you can at least game the system to turn your experience into automatic success all the time.
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I'm still playing Starfinder and enjoying it, but I'm finding it's harder and harder to find Starfinder games on the Recruitment board here. The Starfinder I am playing is mostly thanks to a very, VERY talented and dedicated GM (Thanks, Cellion! You're the best!). But to be fair, I'm ALSO not finding many PF2 games on there either nowadays. Most of the recruitment there seems to be for PF1 still and the ones that aren't tend to be for other games entirely that I have no experience with.
I am frankly concerned because it feels like a lot of the enthusiasm for Starfinder has kind of died down after Drift Crisis came and went. I'm hoping the upcoming Starfinder Enhanced book gets things going again, but it really does feel sometimes like 2e is hogging the spotlight (and from what I've heard, this was by design as Starfinder was meant to be a stopgap to hold interest until they were ready to announce 2e, and there were some people at Paizo who very much DIDN'T want to do Starfinder).
"Starfinder was meant to be a stopgap to hold interest until they were ready to announce 2e" That came from an interview on roll for combat. In its full context, it doesn't sound as ominous. Had Starfinder failed, that would have been the case, but even to Paizo's surprised when Starfinder sold out when released at Gen Con. Now we have 15 books with at least 2 more comming.
The starfinder is relatively slow on the Paizo forums, but the Starfinder reddit has gained 1000 new users in the last 2 months. Many of them come from 5e General posting on Reddit is much more active too.
For play-by-posts on the Paizo forums, I don't see a lot of people running APs. All the games I've played are SFS. The game I'm currently in is still from the Outpost VI online convention. That convention had 9 GMs running games which tends to kill recruitment during the convention. An other group I played with recently split up, a player and a GM from that group switched over to Discord for PbP. Not sure how active Discord is for PbP the lay out is to confusing for me. I do wish that non organized play PbP games on the Paizo forums had separate pages for PF1e, SF, and PF2e
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Hell, I started playing more Starfinder after PF2e release
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Hell, I started playing more Starfinder after PF2e release
I got the PF2e core rule book in 2019 then the pandemic hit. I got bored one day and got the Starfinder core rule book PDF and fell in love with the setting. Just got around to playing PF2e this year, but still playing Starfinder too. I like both. I won't be upset when SF2e comes out but I'm in no hurry for it either.
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I switched from PF1 to SF as I prefer SF balance but then I switched to PF2 as I prefer both balance and customization. I've played a bit SF since then, but the system makes most fights boring compared to PF2.
I'd love to see a SF2 using the rules from PF2. I'd definitely go back to SF if it ever happens.
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I liked Starfinder, but I was very bothered by the lack of class options (at the start, at least). You get one or two defining class features and the rest are numeric bonuses. I also felt like it was more like a tweak on PF1 than its own system, and I didn't really vibe well with a lot of its mechanics. When I got into PF2 I finally got the new system I really wanted, and haven't really looked back.
I do love the setting and the stories told in Starfinder, it's just that mechanically it feels half-baked to me. I might get back into it with Starfinder Enhanced.
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I stopped playing starfinder shortly after 2e came out. I loved playing 2e but some aspects of it started to bug me, mostly about character building and having a hard time making the characters I was hoping make.
Then I went back to check out what starfinder has been cooking while I was away and now I slightly prefer starfinder as a player over 2e. Classes have more fun features built in, and then you also have feats to pick from in addition to class feature buckets that each class has. Combine that with awesome equipment like augments, lack of rarity, slightly more forgiving math, and feeling more heroic in general, and yeah I think it's awesome.
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"Starfinder was meant to be a stopgap to hold interest until they were ready to announce 2e" That came from an interview on roll for combat. In its full context, it doesn't sound as ominous. Had Starfinder failed, that would have been the case, but even to Paizo's surprised when Starfinder sold out when released at Gen Con. Now we have 15 books with at least 2 more comming.
That isn't where I had heard this stuff, it was from a twitter thread and I'm not sure I want to link to it or not because I worry it might paint a target on someones' back, because it was written by a former Paizo employee and has some relatively harsh criticism of a current one.
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That isn't where I had heard this stuff, it was from a twitter thread and I'm not sure I want to link to it or not because I worry it might paint a target on someones' back, because it was written by a former Paizo employee and has some relatively harsh criticism of a current one."Starfinder was meant to be a stopgap to hold interest until they were ready to announce 2e" That came from an interview on roll for combat. In its full context, it doesn't sound as ominous. Had Starfinder failed, that would have been the case, but even to Paizo's surprised when Starfinder sold out when released at Gen Con. Now we have 15 books with at least 2 more comming.
I think I've seen some of the Twitter post your talking about.
With the OGL disaster at the beginning of the year, and the boost to sales from it, whatever the current future plans for Starfinder Paizo has, have likely been updated very recently. Meanwhile, Paizo keeps sending me books
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Starfinder never grabbed me from a character mechanics perspective, but I love the setting.
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Yes, literally just yes, as sad as it is to say. As soon as I saw just how much more mechanically sound PF2 is Starfinder, despite the Sci-Fantasy flavor that I do genuinely like, just felt like a bastard step-sibling of the broken mess that PF1 is... something I never really fully grasped until I started PLAYING PF2.
I'm sure I'm probably not in the majority here but I really think that Starfinder Enhanced is a TERRIBLE idea and is more likely to put that whole IP into an early grave than it is to revive it, the setting/game needs a full-blown Second Edition in order to save it, half measures won't be able to save it from the crooked and flawed skeleton it's built upon no matter how awesome and shiny the meat and dressing is.
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I remember my group and I trying Starfinder 5 years ago and deciding we didn't like it due to the spaceship combat mechanics.
Aside from that, as of current day, I don't have any desire to go back to the crunch of PF1e. I'm not really the kind of player that playstyle particularly encourages/rewards.
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I prefer starfinder over pf2e, so it definitely didn't make me stop.
I don't care about golarion, and while 3 action economy is potentially cool pf2e designs it's classes in a way that you don't get to actually engage with it properly.
I'm also not a fan of how pf2e handles it's options, I often struggle to find any interesting options to take.
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I've tried to convince myself to try Starfinder several times and always get stopped by how it does equipment. Trying to use augmentations as faux wondrous items just ruins the whole fantasy of them, and constantly replacing your weapon with something barely related yet just better is deeply frustrating.
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I've only played Starfinder a handful of times, and PF2 a great deal more. Still want to play more of it, but I generally get my fix for it just by using PF1 and injecting the Unchained Action economy into it with a hefty amount of stuff from the Technology books.
Starfinder with the 3 action economy would probably be a lot of fun.
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I still play Starfinder, Pathfinder 2e, Pathfinder 1e, a home brew FATE, and would welcome trying the new edition of TORG. I like RPGs.
That said, there are a few RPGs that I don’t have an interest in playing.
I personally think that Starfinder would benefit from a new edition that was more like 2e only still allowed early access to flight and other staples of the setting and genre. The skill system in 2e is a lot better than Starfinder. I would still want the power level much higher than 2e allows.
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I've tried to convince myself to try Starfinder several times and always get stopped by how it does equipment. Trying to use augmentations as faux wondrous items just ruins the whole fantasy of them, and constantly replacing your weapon with something barely related yet just better is deeply frustrating.
This is similar to me: I tried a few games but Starfinder just never did it for me. It was different from PF1, but in every way I disliked. I moved to PF2 because of PF1 stopped being made, not because I enjoyed the rules more [I sure wasn't going to 5e after I went through their playtest].
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I don't really mind how starfinder does items, but I mind how it does item prices <_<
(I think its result of one of first campaigns/systems of I played having been shadowrun, I just don't mind idea of having to update equipment in itself. I do mind price to quality increase ratio and that its silly expensive to do it when you can just loot equipment...)
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Yup i haven't played it since soon after pf2e released, while overall I enjoy starfinder I do find it lacking in mechanical coherency compared to pf2e.
As a GM I would prefer to run a mote robust system, and so I do.
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I hope the equipment scaling rules they announced in the upcoming book fix the worst of that. (You prefer small arms, heavy, or sniper weapons, the enemies in a given AP only drop longarms.)
I agree. It'll be great if you've gotten attached to a piece of equipment for sentimental reasons too.
"This armor is a kishalee artifact gifted to me by their kish descendants! I can't just discard it for some armor I ripped off a dead space pirate, even IF it's got better KAC and an extra upgrade slot!"
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Yes, I definitely stopped playing soon after PF2's release because of PF2's release. After experiencing the joy that is PF2's mechanics, playing Starfinder felt like going backwards. Calling it "kludgy" in comparison to PF2's refinement may even be generous.
That being said, though I fell out of love with the Starfinder mechanics, I contue to absolutely love the setting material, save for that one book that changed everything by getting rid of the drift.
I would wholly support a new Starfinder line of products that was more in line with PF2's amazing mechanics.
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I'm hoping that there is a parallel thread like this one on the Starfinder forums. Because this one is going to have heavy selection bias towards people who don't play Starfinder.
But I haven't been on the Starfinder forums in quite a while.
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Broadly speaking, Starfinder has attracted a lot of "never PF2"-ers. Often people who liked 1e and didn't want to move on, and found Starfinder close enough to be a new haven. This is a rather large problem currently being kicked down the road.
While yes, obviously everyone can have their own preferences. I do not begrudge people for not liking PF2 one bit. I am, in fact, glad that they are getting enjoyment out of another Paizo product. However, I strongly believe that those people are in the *deep* minority, and that clinging to the PF1 sensibilities that SF currently labors under is going to drag the SF franchise into an early grave. PF2 modernized lots of elements of PF1 for very good reasons, and is growing in popularity because of those decisions. Letting "never PF2" fans of Starfinder dictate the future of SF will not end well, in part because their tastes simply do not align with the broader public.
I have introduced ~10 or so players in my circles (family and friends) to PF1, Starfinder, and PF2. I am the forever GM for all these games, and the major driver in which systems we play. Introducing them to PF1 and Starfinder was very similar, and a massive pain the neck, and largely an exercise in creating shortlists of options for each player as well as helping guide them around pitfalls and trap options. With PF2 I have basically only had to say "have at it" and they were golden.
SF is already trudging uphill because of the relative lack of popularity of Sci-fi TTRPGs, and I hate to see it also have to be saddled by the same diehards who would have preferred if we never moved on from PF1. I am sorry for those who don't like the prospect, but I can't overstate how difficult it is to start up and maintain a SF game with new players these days.
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The "never 2e" crowd tends to be people I don't want to game with anyway.
Locally in the Bay Area we have plenty of awesome folks playing SFS and PFS.
I just want a bit higher magic. 8th- or 9th-level casting.
Every time I try to flesh out a character concept like a Mystic I end up with "person with a gun and a little bit of magic" but what I WANT is "magical person in a spacesuit."
Maybe I will try building something for a PBP at the next Outpost.
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Broadly speaking, Starfinder has attracted a lot of "never PF2"-ers. Often people who liked 1e and didn't want to move on, and found Starfinder close enough to be a new haven. This is a rather large problem currently being kicked down the road.
To add a personal note to this, I was never eager or ecstatic with PF2 to begin with. There were certain things I liked about it mechanically, but it just doesn't sit right for what I am looking for in a 'forever' system. I like it well enough to play it despite this and enjoy running the game for my players, but it is because of those players mostly.
I've mostly just sort of settled into playing PF2 when in the company of those that enjoy it but still mostly focus my attention on PF1, and the houserule I've made to make it more fluid and dynamic.
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I don't know if I believe in a "forever" system. Although we did play (A)D&D 2E until like '02 and I was still running 3.5 as recently as 4 years ago. (The last 3 have primarily been Genesys [SW] or OnyxPath's now moribund Chronicles of Darkness games.) There are still plenty of folks out there still playing (A)D&D1 and 2 and 3.5 and 4. If folks like PF1, there's no real reason they should shift. That said, like you, I find the more different games I'm willing to play and GM the more frequently I get to play and GM. I think I got lucky with my undergrad group. We play a lot of crazy systems in the '90s and '00s. Hero, TORG, and Gurps, among others. All great in their own way. (IIRC, TORG had this fantastic system for screwing with GM called plot cards which were cards with random plot points that you could hand your GM and then they would have to work whatever was on the card into the story.)
Oh, when I said 'forever' system, I didn't mean EXCLUSIVELY that system forever. I just meant the one in which I would never give up and have a preference to play above all other systems. I pretty much get to play with three or four different systems a week, ranging from PF1 to PF2 to Blackbirds to traveler to Savage Worlds to Castles & Crusades to Dangerous Journeys to Mage: The Ascension to Rolemaster to Starfinder to (most recently) Warhammer 4th. That's just to name a few and doesn't touch the variants within or between them.
My favorite spot to be in is where PF1 hits home. I've even played Pathfinder with the Savage Worlds system. Character died horribly but it was fun.
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I'm hoping that there is a parallel thread like this one on the Starfinder forums. Because this one is going to have heavy selection bias towards people who don't play Starfinder.
But I haven't been on the Starfinder forums in quite a while.
I posted it here thinking people that stopped playing Starfinder would never see it in the Starfinder forums. I just asked the opposite question in the Starfinder forums.
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I recently came back to Pathfinder 2E after a 2 year hiatus with another RPG. That absence made be realize how much I missed the heroic role playing and story telling that Pathfinder 2E provides. I tried to replicate that feeling, but it just didn't scratch that itch for me. So, I'm back.
I just GM one game system at a time. A few years back that was Starfinder, and then Pathfinder 2E came out and spoiled me with the 3 action economy and the way criticals work (that whole roll 10 over the target). After that, I just couldn't go back to Starfinder and it was just Pathfinder 2E. Then another system caught my attention (no, not D&D) for a couple of years, and I left both. With all the excitement concerning ORC and the Remaster, I realized I missed Pathfinder 2E and have come back and currently enjoying it once again.
I love the Starfinder setting and wish that one day Starfinder gets the 2E treatment. I'm hoping that if it does, it then becomes fully compatible with Pathfinder 2E so I can easily intermix classes, spells, equipment, etc, between the two.
If that does happen, I'm hoping I can then GM both settings. Now that would be cool!
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I do think part of the friction comes from people demanding a new edition bascially as soon as Starfinder existed. It doesn't have the same stream of content as something like PF1e or PF2e, and has only been around for a few years, so it can feel very premature to kill off the game and start it again from scratch when it only relatively recently has started to feel like a full game.
PF1e to 2e was 10 years, Starfinder has had people demanding a new edition whenever a new Starfinder announcement is made since it was 2 or 3 and has only just past the halfway mark. I wouldn't be surprised if a new edition was something they start to plan soon, since new editions take time to make, but it really didn't need to be something that was being brought up every 5 minutes.